Friday, December 29, 2017

Teacher who allegedly compared student to 'crackhead' no longer a board employee

A substitute teacher who allegedly compared a Grade 6 student to a "crackhead" no longer works with the Toronto District School Board, a spokesperson told CBC on Wednesday, but it's unclear if he could end up in front of a classroom again.

The development follows a reported incident at Norman Cook Public School late last month, when the teacher allegedly responded to a question about an English assignment with what Abigail Francis, the boy's mother, believes was nothing short of a racist remark.

The class had been assigned a poetry project called "All the places we love." When 11-year-old son Isaiah asked for clarification, the teacher allegedly responded, "It means like home sweet home. Or maybe for you, in a dark alleyway like a crackhead."

Francis told CBC Toronto earlier this month that one of Isaiah's classmates encouraged him to file a report.

"If I had gone up and asked the same question, he wouldn't have said that to me because I'm white," the classmate told Isaiah, according to Francis. (more...)